Happy Birthday
by Aelyna326
Summary: ONE SHOT. A slightly extended version of the scene at the end of 3x11 'Our Town'. Written from Caroline, Liz and Klaus's point of views.


_**Happy Birthday... **_

Pain lanced across Caroline's shoulder, she could _feel _the poison spreading. "Mum... Mum!" She twisted in pain. "I'm here sweetheart, I'm here."  
>"It hurts Mum –" She broke off crying, Liz held her daughter, Matt had explained what Caroline would go through, and that there was <strong>nothing<strong> to be done about it, she was going to die, painfully, and by the end she may well not be able to recognise her own mother. Damon would come over in a few hours, to take care of her as the end came. But Liz swore she would stay, no matter how dangerous her daughter may become.  
>"Caroline..." She held her closer, "It'll be alright, I'll take care of you sweetheart."<br>Caroline sniffed, and murmured; "Someone's at the door."  
>"They can wait." Liz kept hold of her daughter, God how she regretted the years they'd wasted. The rows, the late working hours; she wished, harder than she had ever wished for anything before, to relive everyday of her daughters life, to relive every moment that had led up to this one, and change this.<p>

"...he would never have done something like this!2 Matt sounded forceful, Liz got up,  
>"I'll be back in a moment sweetheart." Her heart almost stopped when she saw Klaus at the door. What could he possibly be here for, hadn't he done enough? She was about to get angry, when she heard; "My blood will heal here, <strong>please <strong>ask the Sheriff to invite me inside." Hope sprang up, but Liz was too used to vampire's to play all her cards yet. "I know how this game works, you want something in return." It wasn't really a question, but the truth was, it wouldn't have mattered what he answered; she would give him anything for her daughter's life. He shook his head, "Just your support." Did she believe it, no, did it matter, no.

"Come in." He flashed Matt a look as he passed, he was pleased with himself. Liz thought about hitting him as he passed, but no, she could do that when he'd healed her daughter.

Liz knew that Caroline hated her being watched when she fed, so she stayed outside, but she wasn't going to let that monster have her daughter alone. She sat down, just outside the door, and as he passed, Matt handed her a stake. _Thank you. _Liz mouthed at her daughter's ex boyfriend, the one boy in this town who actually seemed reliable, and the one Caroline had decided wasn't right for her.

Caroline could hear conversation, but her vampire senses were going funny, so she stopped herself trying to understand what was being said. Closing her eyes, she allowed a fitful rest to overcome her.

Then footsteps, close, but stopping before reaching the bed made her open her eyes. She had expected Matt, but it wasn't. "Are you going to kill me?" There was nothing anybody could do about it if he said yes, her mother probably had a stake waiting, but Klaus was the oldest, and most dangerous vampire alive. Her slight shift at his entrance caused more pain in her shoulder, and the rational part of her brain wondered if maybe it wouldn't be a blessing after all. She had made Matt promise on the way over that he would end it before she lost control of herself, she wouldn't risk hurting her mother.

"On your birthday?" He sounded surprised, "You really think that low of me?" His head was cocked to one side, and a look of hurt haunted his icy eyes. She didn't believe he would kill her right now, but he had ordered Tyler to do what he did, she knew that. "Yes!" She spoke with more force than before, her own hurt making itself known.

As Klaus came closer his gaze softened, but Caroline's heart still jumped when he reached out to her. He only pulled back the blanket covering her wound, the pain spiked again, and Caroline squeezed her eyes shut. She heard his breath catch in an _oh! _"That looks bad, my apologies, you're what's known as collateral damage, it's nothing personal." It felt God damned personal; the one person Caroline had felt like she could trust, the one person she was sure had loved her, had been turned against her – by this man.

She hardened her stare when she looked up at him, but she was too tired, and in too much pain to argue now. For only a moment he seemed to waver, looking away from her, as though he couldn't quite meet her eyes. When he changed the subject, Caroline felt like she had won a small victory. "I love birthdays –" His accent made everything he said seem nicer, more honest, but Caroline scoffed anyway. She wasn't a fool to be played. She had to clear her throat before she could speak properly, and even then her words didn't come out as fluently as she wanted. "Yeah... aren't you like... a billion... or something?" She glanced back up, and he was smiling, almost fondly at her. She must sound very naïve to someone like him. But then, who was he to judge her, she'd never killed anyone in cold blood.

"You have to adjust your perception of time when you become a vampire Caroline." He sounded like Damon, lecturing her, and laughing at her at the same time. "Celebrate the fact that you're no longer bound by trivial human conventions." _Like birthdays_, she wondered. When she looked down, he spoke again, urging her with his passionate whisper. _"You're free." _

"No." She looked up again, as her voice caught, laced with fear and pain. "I'm dying." He moved, sat down in her mother's place on the bed. "And I could let you, die," Caroline felt a thrill of fear, she didn't like him being so close, and his words reminded her of how dangerous he really was. But he hadn't finished. "If that's what you want. If you really believe your existence has _no_ meaning."_ How did he __**know **__that? _

Outside the room, leaning against the wall, Liz listened with glistening eyes. _If that's what you want? _No. No, her daughter didn't want that, did she? Because if Caroline didn't think her life had meaning, Liz had done something terribly wrong. Caroline should know she was special, know she had meaning, if not to herself, then to Liz. She meant everything to Liz.

Klaus seemed to struggle, for a moment, to form the sentence; "I thought about it myself, once or twice, over the centuries, truth be told." Caroline wanted to hear lies, but his eyes didn't seem deceptive. He leant close, and Caroline wasn't afraid this time. She felt her eyes follow him, drawn in by his low whisper. "But I'll let you in on a little secret, there's a whole _world _waiting for you; great cities and art and music." And Caroline could see it, behind those ice blue eyes, she could see the places he had been, and all the beautiful things he must have seen. Things she had dreamt of.

He looked away from her intense gaze, down at the bracelet on her wrist, and she felt the light touch as he played with it, but she never looked away from his face. "Genuine beauty; and you can have _all _of it. You can have a thousand more birthdays. All you have to do is ask." Caroline hadn't realised her eyes had filled with tears as he spoke, but now she could feel them burning along with her shoulder. She fought to get words out. "I don't wanna die." He seemed genuinely pleased, as he pulled up his sleeve.

She gasped when he moved her, lifting her into his embrace. The pain throbbed, it had worsened, but she hadn't noticed when he had been talking. "There you go sweetheart, have at it." She flicked her eyes to his for a microsecond, but she was drawn to the blood, flowing through the veins, just under his skin. Her fangs protracted without conscious thought, and she bit down. She felt him tense when she sunk in, but only for a moment, then he rested his chin on her head, and whispered into hair, "Happy birthday Caroline." A sudden, unexplainable surge of gratitude swept over her. He had been the cause of this, but as his blood filled her mouth, and his voice soothed her, Caroline felt special, like somehow she mattered. Then the vampire took over, and she drank.

When she had finished, Klaus lay her down on the pillow, careful not to jostle her shoulder, even though she was unconscious for the moment. Her brushed the hair off her face, and pulled the covers back around her. She really was lovely; young, naïve, hotheaded, maybe even foolish. But Klaus knew genuine beauty when he saw it, and Caroline's shone through, overpowering.

Outside Sheriff Forbes was drying her eyes on her sleeve, silently thanking every deity she didn't believe in for her daughters life, making promises she could never keep, and otherwise rejoicing in her silent vigil. When Klaus came out, the urge to hit him, or stake him, had died completely, and the Sheriff looked up at his eternally young face, which shone in new light. Maybe he had seen a thousand cities that had since crumbled into dust, heard a hundred languages now long dead, but he was a boy, who fancied a girl, and just wanted to impress her.

He offered a hand to help her up, and she took it willingly. "Thank you, honestly, I don't know what I would have done –" She bit her tongue, she couldn't show too much weakness. Klaus smiled, and acknowledged her thanks, "She's special, your daughter. I didn't realise before..." He paused, seeming to teeter on the edge of something, then he jumped. "I won't allow her to be harmed again. Caroline is safe from now on." Goodnight Sheriff." He left abruptly, but the front door closed softly, so as not to wake Caroline.


End file.
